Header Ads

Philadelphia Flyers vs Chicago Blackhawks

WHEN: 8:00 p.m. Wednesday.WHERE: United Center.

BROADCAST: TV, NBCSN

KEY PLAYERS: Chicago has misplaced5 of its final six video games, beating lowly Arizona for its solely win in that span. Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville was sad with Chicago’s depthstage at follow Tuesday and had the gamers skating laps on thefinish of the session.
The Blackhawks are anticipatedto make use of goalie Corey Crawford, who's 5-Four with a 2.12 goals-against common and .935 save share. Crawford, nevertheless, has struggled mightily in 4professionvideo gamestowards the Flyers: a 1-Threefile with a Three.51 GAA and .855 save share.
Flyers killer Patrick Kane leads Chicago with 12 factors, and Brandon Saad tops the Hawks with six objectives.
The Flyers, who'remaking an attempt to bounce again from a Four-Threeadditional time loss to worst-in-the-NHL Arizona, have 4gamers averaging greater thansome extent per recreation: Jake Voracek (16 factors), the scorching Sean Couturier (15), Claude Giroux (14), and Shayne Gostisbehere (13). Couturier has eight factors, together with5objectives, in his final4video games. Courting to final season, he has 32 factors and a plus-28 score in his final 32 video games.
Gostisbehere and rookie heart Nolan Patrick will miss the sportdue toobvious concussion-like signs.
The Flyers have misplaced three of their final4video games (1-2-1).

HEAD TO HEAD:That isthe primaryassembly between the groups this season; they will even play Nov. 9 on the Wells Fargo Middle. The Flyers have a 60-46-30 filewithin the all-time sequence, together with a 1-1 mark final season.

In Chicago’s 7-Four, early-season win over the Flyers on the United Middlefinalyr, Ivan Provorov was minus-5. He has rebounded and turn into the Flyers’ greatest defenseman. By far.

The Chicago Blackhawks enter tonight’s recreation having stopped 92.46 % of all pictures that they’ve confrontedto this point this season (excluding empty-net objectivestowards). That’s the third-best mark within the NHL. And if that wasn’t sufficient, the St. Louis Blues, the Flyers’ opponent on Thursday, have stopped 92.81 % of all pictures they’ve confronted, which is second-best within the league to this point. (Solely the L.A. Kings, at a ridiculous 93.99 %, are faring higher in web than the Blues are.

Chances are high, the Flyers will likely be getting everyof thosegroups’ number-one goalies, and beating these guys will likely be no small activity. Chicago’s Corey Crawford (tonight’s confirmed starter) has been excellent for just a few years now and is robustbutonce more this yr, posting a .935 save shareby way of his first 10 video games of the season. In the meantime, in St. Louis, Jake Allen is faring fairlyproperly for himself, as he’s stopped 92.1 % of all pictures he’s confrontedwithin the first 10 video games of his personal season.

We’ve seen the Flyers attempt to push in direction of the high-danger areas of the ice extrawithin the first month of this season than we did at principally any levelfinal season. After an assault that was heavy on levelpicturesfinal season — one wherein the crew’s shot-attempt charges tended to outpace its expected-goal charges — the Flyers appear to be making extra of an effort to get pictures from the slot and to make performs that get the puck there.

However absent a complete lot of high-end expertise, that’s not one thingcrew’s going to have the ability to do eachevening. Take Monday evening’s loss to Arizona, for instance. What number ofinstances, within the first 40 minutes of that recreation, did you end upeager to throw your distant at your tvas a result of the Flyers tried to power the puck to a person in a harmfulspace in entrance, solely to see that crossboth get swallowed up by a Coyotes defender or miss its supposedgoal? That’s the draw back of passing up the simple shot for an opportunity at a troublesome one: generallythese passing lanes simply aren’t going to be there, and in the event youhold taking thesedangers unsuccessfully it mightbegin to get ugly (to the tune of “13 pictures on objective in two intervalstowards an Zero-11 crew”).

In opposition to a crew that has obtainedactually horrendous goaltending to this point this season, the way in which that the Coyotes have, it’s honest to ask whether or not the Flyers possiblyought to have accomplished a bit extra “letting it rip”, as a result of with some groupsand a few goalies it is smart to take thesepossibilities.

Tonight and tomorrow, although, the Flyers are strolling into the properties of two of the stingiest goaltenders within the NHL this season. Guys like Crawford and Allen simply don’t surrenderstraightforwardobjectives. By way of corsica.hockey, Crawford is butto surrender a single “low-danger” objectivethis whole season, whereas Allen has given up three, two of which got here at 5-on-5.

All of which is to say that the Flyers could also be well-served to, as soon asonce more, take some cracks at making that furthercross to the slot, irrespective of how properlyit might (or, y’know, could not) have gone the finalday out. And that begins tonight towards Chicago. In opposition to a goalie who’s been near-impossible to crack and a Blackhawks protection that in any other case has some query marks, it’s price a shot.